Lady Regina again threw herself at the king's feet with almost adoration.
"Sire, I have come to save your soul. I cannot bear to think that a hero like yourself, so noble, so great, should be lost for ever. Hear me, I beg, I implore you by your eternal salvation, with certain death staring you in the face, do not continue in your heretical faith, whose fruit is eternal damnation. I pray you, abjure these evil doctrines while there is still time, and come back to the only way of redemption, the Holy Catholic Church; give up your faith and go to the Holy Father in Rome; confess your sins to him, and use your victorious sword in the service of the true Church, instead of using it for her destruction. She will receive you with open arms, and whether your Majesty lives or dies, your Majesty can always depend upon being placed among the chosen saints in Heaven."
The king for the second time raised the young girl from the ground, and looked straight into her burning eyes, and said in an impressive voice:
"When I was as young as you are, Lady von Emmeritz, my teacher, old Skytte, brought me up with the same enthusiastic devotion to the Protestant faith that you have for the Catholic. At that time I hated the Pope with all my soul, as you now hate Luther, and I prayed to God that the time might come when I could destroy Antichrist and convert all those that believed in him to the true light. Since then I have not altered my principles, but I have learned through experience that the paths are many, although the goal is One. I stand steadily by my faith, and am prepared to die for it, if God so decides. But I respect the faith of a Christian, even if it is quite different from my own, and I know that God's mercy can bring a soul to salvation, even if its way is obscured by dark mists and illusions. Go, Lady von Emmeritz, I forgive you; although deluded by the fanatical teachings of the monks, you have tried to draw me from the battle for the Light. Go, poor child, and let the Word of God, and the lessons of Life, teach you not to rely upon saints, who are no better than we are, or images, or rings, as they cannot alter the highest law. I thank you because your intentions are good, although you are inexperienced. Be without fear for my life, which is in the hand of Him who knows how to use it."
King Gustaf Adolf was truly great when he spoke these words.
Lady Regina stood there, at the same time crushed and uplifted by the king's magnanimous spirit. Perhaps she remembered his answer to the burghers of Frankfurt, when they asked him to be allowed to remain neutral; "neutrality is a word which I cannot bear to hear, least of all amidst the battle between light and darkness, betwixt liberty and slavery." Brought up to hate the Protestant faith, she could not understand how it was possible for the sword which had destroyed the worldly power of the church to be laid aside in the presence of its spiritual power over the hearts and minds of men.
The fanatical young girl raised her tear-stained eyes towards the king. Her cheeks turned pale, on which had before burned the fire of enthusiasm, and her eyes were fixed with terror on the scarlet-coloured hangings which surrounded the king's bed.
Oxenstjerna, who was more suspicious than Gustaf Adolf, had closely watched the young lady the whole time, and at once noticed her agitation.
"Your Majesty," said he in Swedish to the king, "be on your guard, there are owls in the marshes."
Then without waiting for an answer he drew his sword and walked steadily towards the magnificent bed, which was a gift from the burghers of Frankfurt; the royal hero had exchanged the eider-down pillows for a simple mattress, and a coarse blanket of Saxon wool, the same as his soldiers used in their winter camps.